The Last Suppers: 03/12/13

The Last Suppers by Diane Mott Davidson is the fourth in the Goldy Bear Catering mystery series. If these books were a television series, The Last Suppers would have been the season finale and suffers from the same mistakes that many a season finale make.

Goldy and Tom are finally getting married. Except that when Goldy walks down the aisle, Tom is no where to be seen! Shortly after that, a priest ends up dead. When Tom still hasn't appeared, it becomes painfully apparent that Tom has been kidnapped by the murderer.

Mmkay.

I can happily say having read enough of the post-marriage book mysteries, that The Last Suppers is an aberration for the series as a whole. Although Goldy regularly gets herself into trouble by being an amateur detective, usually Tom Schulz stays out of trouble. Yes, he's in a dangerous line of work but he's also a paid and more importantly, a trained, professional. His work as an officer of the law is a means for Goldy to get timely information that most amateur detectives don't have access too.

So while it was interesting to see how Diane Mott Davidson transitioned her series from the caterer vs. police officer set up of the first couple books to the more domestic caterer married to a police officer books, it felt like she was grinding her gears. While Goldy does tend to overly emotional at times, here, she was completely unstrung.

Then there's Tom. He's a professional. He doesn't take unnecessary risks. He just doesn't strike me as the sort of person who would get himself kidnapped and kept prisoner. His continued disappearance to stall the wedding and build unnecessary dramatic tension was a cop out (pun intended).

Had the book just started with their wedding, or immediately afterwards, The Last Suppers would have been a much better — and more in character — part of the series.

Four stars

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